Which can be a good model for democratic transformation in the Arab world, India or Turkey? If the question surprised foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey, he did not show it.

External affairs minister S.M.

India will resume structured peace talks with Pakistan two years and two months after they were suspended following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
In a concession to Islamabad, all issues, including, but not limited to, Jammu and Kashmir, will be discussed, but without the label of composite dialogue.

Who is to be believed, Kasuri or Kayani? New Delhi will not be surprised if it does not hear a satisfactory answer from Islamabad, but there is a view that clarity on the question would come handy as India and Pakistan take tentative steps to unlock the bilateral dialogue process in Bhutan, where foreign secretary Nirupama Rao will meet her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir on the margins of a Saarc meeting on February 6 and 7.

The European Union (EU) has been making efforts to seek Switzerland’s cooperation against tax evasion and money laundering, but Swiss banking secrecy laws remain a “bone of contention” between them, according to EU ambassador to India Daniele Smadja.

Baburam Bhattarai, vice-chairman of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda’s deputy, is in India for talks with a cross-section of the Indian leadership. The Maoist leader and former finance minister of Nepal admits that relations between his party and New Delhi have taken a hit but he is making efforts to remove the misconceptions and misunderstandings that may have crept up of late.

Nearly six decades after India conducted Sudan’s first parliamentary elections, it will play a facilitating role for the people of South Sudan to vote in a January referendum to decide whether they will remain part of a united Sudan or form a new independent state.

India and Russia cemented their “special and privileged strategic partnership” by signing a raft of deals, including one on design and development of an advanced fifth-generation fighter aircraft.

The meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was supposed to be a dialogue between two heads of government who, according to an Indian official, shared a “strong personal chemistry” and a “positive rapport”. But if first impressions are anything to go by, they engaged in parallel monologues with the Chinese leader more keen to talk about banalities than to listen to constructive criticism.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao came the closest to addressing one of India’s many concerns when he told an industry conference soon after arriving here on Wednesday that he will be ready to give Indian IT